Pool water should never be drained to the street or the storm drain. Storm drains in the Bay Area typically run into local creeks, rivers and the bays. In most places, it's against the law to drain pools and spas this way because pool water contains chemicals that can endanger or kill wildlife.
It is important to remember the motto “Only Rain in the Storm Drain” even when performing this maintenance. In many cities or towns, it is a code violation to discharge backwash water from your property into a public right-of-way like an alley, road, or arroyo.
A freshly chlorinated pool should not be discharged into the yard; the chlorine is harmful to yard plants and the environment as a whole. Using a test kit, your pool water needs to reflect a certain concentration of chlorine, such as 0.1 ppm (parts per million), before it is safe to drain into your yard.
All you need is a medium-size water or vacuum pump. Unroll the pump's intake hose so that it reaches the center of the pool (or as close to it as possible), and submerge it in the pool. Place the outlet hose so the exiting water doesn't flood the area, but drains off away from the pool.
Household sink or bathtub - Yes, seriously! Run the garden hose between your pool and your sink or tub and start the flow! This will direct the water to the sanitary sewers.
First, if the draining is done at the wrong time or under the wrong conditions, you can actually risk damaging your pool structure and liner. All the water from your pool needs to go somewhere when it's drained, and that usually means the ground.
Swimming pool builders often install overflow drains near the rim of the pool that prevent flooding most of the time. If you don't have an overflow drain, or if it is clogged, it is possible for periods of unusually heavy rain to overflow your pool.
If you can pump around 30 GPM (gallons per minute), which is also equivalent to 1800 GPH (gallons per hour), it should take you 2.78 hours or 2 hours and 46 minutes to drain your pool using a hose.
We get asked this question every time there is a heavy rain. That answer is pretty simple when you think about it. The pool will only overflow by the amount of rain in excess of the amount of rain needed to fill the pool to the top.
During normal operation, water flows to the filtering system through two or more main drains at the bottom of the pool and multiple skimmer drains around the top of the pool. The main drains are usually located on the lowest point in the pool, so the entire pool surface slants toward them.
A 10,000 gallon pool will take about 14 hours to drain, the maximum rate recommended by the City of Phoenix. It will take twice as long to drain if the pool size is doubled or cut in half.
Pool industry experts recommend you drain your pool and refill it every five to seven years. No two pools are alike, so there is no set number at which you must drain your pool.
In general, draining this type of pool is the trickiest. Inground pools made of concrete or gunite are susceptible to popping out of the ground if drainage is not done properly. If there has been a surplus of rain recently or your pool is located in a wet area, it is best not to try and drain the pool yourself at all.
Pools and spas not plumbed with a sanitary sewer drainage inlet can be drained to a sanitary sewer line plumbed to the home.
Because there is no main drain on most aboveground pools, you will only be able to lower the water to the bottom of the intake or skimmer, using your aboveground pool filter system. To drain an aboveground pools, either a). Use small submersible electric pump and garden hose, or b).
Did you know it is illegal in Collier County to discharge your pool or spa water into the stormwater system or sanitary sewer system? Draining your pool or spa water into the street, sewer system or storm water system can wreak havoc on the environment if it's not done properly.
Even though you can drain your above-ground pool without worrying about the permanent damage to which inground pools are suseptible, that doesn't mean it's something you want. If you absolutely do need to drain your pool, make sure that each of the items on this checklist apply first.
You may throw up your hands and decide the best course of action is to drain the pool and start over. In fact, draining a pool should be a last resort. Most in-ground pools will have to be drained and refilled at some point. But cleaning should not be the reason to do it.
Or, as was the case in this wading pool incident, an open drain can suction organs out of the body. In 1993, Valerie Lakey, 5, was playing in a wading pool at a recreation club in North Carolina when she became caught in the uncovered drain's vortex. The pull was so strong that she was disemboweled.
Most pools have two main drains, but a small pool may have only one. The drains are positioned at the pool's deepest point.